Hold on for dear life
by TrueNinja
Summary: A short story of China and Tanith.


A little something about China.

 **All rights belong to Derek Landy!**

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China Sorrows looked around her in her library. It was beautifully organized, clean and quiet. There were thousand of books neatly in rows in the shelves. She was very proud of her library and about her collections. There were books from poems to magic and from romance to adventure. As said, she was very, very proud of that. She looked at the list in her hand, it told her that she still had some books to find in this month. She had always been an achiever. What it came to books and rare stuff especially. But now, she had some time on her own, so she put the list away and focused on herself.

She was just about to take one of the special books to read but it was no where to be found. She gasped in shock and looked around once again. Her eyes stopped to one certain blonde, holding this precious book of hers on her arms and sitting on the couch, resting her feet on the table in front of her. She was really focused and that wasn't a miracle, China knew as well that the certain book was a masterpiece and totally one of its kind.

China got up from her chair and walked to the table in front of Tanith and sat on it. Tanith lifted her glaze from the book to China and something like a smile almost made its way to her face.

"Hi, I umm...this is a good book." Tanith mumbled and let the smile form to her face.

"Yea, it truly is. May I ask, how did you get it excactly? Because, what I remember is that it was locked in my very own drawer on this very same morning." China asked, playful and a little amused look on her face.

Tanith's grin was now from ear to ear "Well, withstand." She laughed and China slapped her forehead.

"Well of course, you'd think that when you've lived long enough you would've learned something but no. I still can't remember your withstand stuff." China sighed and moved to sit next to Tanith.

There was a silence for a little while which Tanith broke first.

"Are we like friends or something now? Because I've not heard any of the jibes I usually get to hear." Tanith joked and lightly nudged China, but hearing no response she turned her glaze to her. She looked little tired and heck, even vulnerable. "China, what's up with you?" Tanith asked, wondering was it possible for China Sorrows to get sad. Did she have feelings under the pretty face and cocky remarks?

China turned around to face Tanith. "I have been holding my feelings back for so long that I'm not sure if they even excist anymore." She sighed and laughed at herself. She soudned desperate, awful.

"China, feelings are there somewhere. They never dissapear, even if you'd want them to." Tanith assured. "Why do you suddenly think about these things?"

China shrugged "I don't know it's just that I've used almost my whole life collecting books and stuff, I've always been the I-know-anything-about-anybody girl but nothing more. I've never had any true friends, I guess and seeing you guys being so good friends with each other, oh dear." China ended, huffing this time.

"So you...suppose that you don't care about anyone and that nobody cares about you? Because you've never tried to make friends? That's silly China, I mean listen to yourself." Tanith said, reassuringly and then she got an idea.

"Okay, this is what we're gonna do. We are gonna play a game." Tanith said, beaming with joy.

"What?" China asked, almost not believing her ears.

"Yeah, it's called KML. Kiss, marry, lock up*. I give you three people as options and then you say who of them you would kiss, who of them you would marry and who of them you would put behind the bars. Okay?"

"Okay, I guess." China replied, amused.

"Skul, me and Ghastly." Tanith said, loud and clear.

China took her moment, thinking and then said "Kiss you, marry Skulduggery and lock up Ghastly."

"Why's that?" Tanith asked, smirking and steering this game to the resoult she wanted to achieve.

"Because I don't want you to get locked up, I don't want to marry you because you belong to Ghastly. I don't want to kiss or marry Ghastly because he belongs to you and you're both happy that way." China replied, her voice steady and her face showing her confuse.

"So that means that you care about my happiness, as well as about Ghastly's happiness. Implying that, you'd be a friend. A good friend." Tanith told to China who finally smiled a little.

"Would you seriously be friends with me after everything I've done and said?" China asked, looking Tanith straight to eyes.

"Yeah, you deserve me, us, China. I mean, if you'd join our little hero group then we'd be like...maleficent five." Tanith laughed, China joining her.

"Yeah..." China whispered. She smiled and stood up "You know it's getting late, and we both have to have our beauty sleep, right?"

"Yeah." Tanith replied and got up, handing the book back to China. But China didn't take it.

"You keep it." She said, smiling. "It's a good book."

Tanith grinned "Thanks China."

China smiled brighter than the sun and led Tanith out of the library shutting the lights down and looking around that there was no one left in there.

"Cya tomorrow China." Tanith said and China watched her go. She had the book in her right hand and she had a good grip on it. Well, after all The Notebook was something to hold on. A friendship, was something to hold on for dear life.

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So, what do you think? Good, bad, something between? :D

*well known as FMK, fuck marry kill but I decided to go with something a little bit lighter than fuck and kill so that's why kiss marry kill.


End file.
